Letter: Fracking's water use worrisome

To the editor

Published 8:45 pm, Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Let's for a moment put aside disagreements regarding whether a hydraulic fracturing well can be drilled and maintained without ever polluting the air and water around it. What I haven't seen discussed is simply the amount of fresh water involved in fracking.

I recall reading about the fine levied against Chobani Yogurt for water use at its Chenango County plant ("Yogurt maker to pay water fine," Dec. 18). The article noted "the factory now uses about 800,000 gallons of water daily," but the company had failed to first get permission from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. Further, "Commission rules require an environmental review of projects that would use 100,000 gallons or more daily to ensure that use does not render other water supplies, like drinking water wells, unreliable, or cause unforeseen environmental damage."

According to its website, that same commission has, for natural gas development, "approved withdrawal amounts of about 91 million gallons per day at 173 locations largely in Pennsylvania but a few in the New York portion as well." This is almost as much water, for each of those wells, as Chobani uses at its entire plant.

In that Chobani article, it was stated that, "ss factory production rose, some neighbors this year began complaining their drinking water wells were running dry."

What I would like someone to explain is how we cannot be extremely concerned about an industry that needs to use about 100 times that much water.